In the 1960s, the Rhinland was an important center for a revolutionary occurrence in art: a new generation of artists with international networks rebelled against traditional art. They used everyday life as their source of inspiration and everyday objects as their material. They went out into theri urban surroundings, challenging the limits of the art disciplines and collaborating with musicians, writers, filmmakers, and dancers.

In touch with the latest trends of this exciting period, the Cologne painting restorer Wolfgang Hahn (1924-1987) began acquiring the new art and created a multifaceted collection of works of Nouveau Réalisme, Fluxus, Happening, Pop Art, and Conceptual Art.

The Hahn Col­lec­tion was ac­quired by the Re­public of Aus­tria in 1978 and was aug­ment­ed with other ac­qui­si­tions in 2003. It is part of the mumok – Mu­se­um mod­ern­er Kunst Stif­tung Lud­wig Wien in Vien­na.

The ex­hi­bi­tion con­sid­ers the Hahn Col­lec­tion for the first time as a self-contained time cap­sule that of­fers a fresh look at the art of the 1960s and ’70s be­yond art-his­tor­i­cal or ge­o­graph­i­cal cat­e­gories.